There was significant deterioration in women’s rights in 2023 due to edicts that further restricted access to education and employment, with a net result that women were increasingly confined to domestic roles, the U.S. State Department said in its annual human rights report.

Killings, severe physical abuse, harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, unjust detentions and abductions, restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, restrictions on internet freedom, restrictions on political participation; corruption and child recruitment were among human rights issues cited in the report.

It said that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) did not purport to formally change existing laws as legislated by the Republic-era government; however, they promulgated edicts that contradicted those laws and were inconsistent with Afghanistan’s obligations under international conventions.

“This year’s report also captures human rights abuses against members of vulnerable communities. In Afghanistan, the Taliban (IEA) have limited work opportunities for women, shuttered institutions found educating girls, and increasing floggings for women and men accused of, quote, ‘immoral behavior,’ end quote,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

IEA’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in reaction to the report, said that the people of Afghanistan are Muslims and their rights are defined and ensured according to Islamic laws.

He added that the culture and human rights defined in the United States and other western countries are different from Afghanistan and Westerners should not impose their culture on other countries.

The Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) organization has reported that the rains and floods of the last week have claimed the lives of many Afghan and incurred huge financial losses.

According to the organization, a total of 1,500 families have suffered as a result of the recent floods and hundreds of livestock have also been lost.

IRW added that following the recent rains, 900 houses were partially or completely destroyed and 93,000 hectares of agricultural land was damaged.

This comes amid an ongoing economic crisis in Afghanistan which has left millions of people reliant on aid.

The disaster management ministry meanwhile confirmed earlier that 99 people died and 64 others were injured as a result of the heavy rains.

Russia said on Sunday U.S. lawmakers’ support for $60.84 billion more in aid for Ukraine showed that Washington was wading much deeper into a hybrid war against Moscow that would end in humiliation on a par with the Vietnam or Afghanistan conflicts.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it was clear that the United States wanted Ukraine “to fight to the last Ukrainian” including with attacks on Russian sovereign territory and civilians, Reuters reported.

“Washington’s deeper and deeper immersion in the hybrid war against Russia will turn into a loud and humiliating fiasco for United States such as Vietnam and Afghanistan,” Zakharova said.

Russia, she said, will give “an unconditional and resolute response” to the U.S. move to get more involved in the Ukraine war.

The United States lost more than 58,000 military personnel in the 1955-75 Vietnam War, which ended with Communist North Vietnam’s victory and takeover of the South, while hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed.

In the 2001-2021 war in Afghanistan, the U.S. reported 2,459 dead and over 20,000 wounded in the conflict which ended with the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces and return to power of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA).